Two Wisconsin Marinas Awarded Clean Marina Status

Southport Marina in Kenosha and Egg Harbor Marina in Door County were re-certified as clean marinas for another five years by the Wisconsin Marine Association (WMA) at its fall conference on Nov. 14 in Rothschild, Wisconsin. The awards recognize marinas and boatyards that implement numerous green practices to protect water quality, public health and fish and wildlife habitat.

Current Cleanup and Restoration Projects Featured in Next River Talk

The River Talk series continues this month on Wednesday Nov. 8, 7 p.m. at the Lake Superior Estuarium (3 Marina Dr., Superior, Wis.). Matt Steiger, Area of Concern coordinator for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, will present: “What’s Happening on the St. Louis River? Current Cleanup and Restoration Projects.”

Just Add Water . . . New Teaching Tool Focuses on Engineering

Wisconsin Sea Grant educators have come up with a new tool for middle-school teachers and students to use. All it takes is a coat hanger, water and some thought.

The Remotely Operated Vehicle engineering pack, or ROVe pack for short, has students building underwater ROVs in teams with hangers, and figuring out how to keep them underwater with the correct neutral buoyancy. The coat hanger ROV design was first developed by Harry Bohm at the Marine Advance Technology Education Center and Wisconsin Sea Grant Education Specialist Kathy Kline used it to develop a neutral buoyance activity for outreach events.

Phragmites Control Headlines River Talk Series

he Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Minnesota and Wisconsin Sea Grant programs are starting the fifth year of science café-type evening talks about the St. Louis River Estuary in October. Control of the invasive weed, phragmites, in the estuary is the topic of the first River Talk of the 2017-18 season. These informal public talks will be held monthly through May at the Reserve’s new Estuarium interpretive center on Barker’s Island in Superior.

Watershed Program Journeys Into New Territory

A new summer program for youths in Milwaukee can boast of several “firsts” on a national and local level, plus it formed strong bonds between the instructors and the students.

World’s Largest Aquaponics Operation Opens in American Heartland

Wisconsin Sea Grant provides support to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility, which in turn has supported the work of a new $20 million aquaponics operation raising Atlantic salmon in the northwestern part of the state.

Unique Floating Staircases will Allow Park Visitors to Reach the Beach Safely on Lake Michigan

Gene Clark, Wisconsin Sea Grant’s coastal engineer, is included in a grant recently funded by the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program and led by the Ozaukee County Planning and Parks Department to design, construct and demonstrate floating staircase sections for a 130-foot bluff in Virmond County Park in Mequan, Wisconsin. If and when additional bluff movement or erosion happens, the staircases would not be destroyed, and could simply be repositioned so that they are level.